EXECUTIVE ORDER
BJ 11-25

Executive Branch--Expenditure Reduction

WHEREAS, pursuant to R.S. 39:75(A)(1), the Division of Administration is directed to submit a monthly budget status report to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget (hereafter "the Committee") indicating the balance of the budget for the State General Fund and dedicated funds by comparing the official forecast for these funds to the total authorized appropriations from
each fund; once approved by the Committee, the most recent budget status report becomes the official budget status of the State;WHEREAS, if the most recently approved budget status report indicates that the total appropriation from any fund will exceed the official forecast for that fund, R.S. 39:75(B) requires the Committee to immediately notify the Governor that a projected deficit exists for that fund;WHEREAS, the Committee notified the Governor that it approved a budget status report at its December 16, 2011 meeting, indicating a projected deficit of Two Hundred Fifty-One Million Two Hundred Seventy-Nine Thousand Four Hundred Seventy-Seven Dollars ($251,279,477) exists in the State General Fund for Fiscal Year 2011-2012, based on the revised official forecast of revenue available for appropriation adopted by the Revenue Estimating Conference on December 14, 2011, compared to total appropriations;WHEREAS, once notified that a projected deficit exists, pursuant to Article VII, Section 10, of the Constitution of Louisiana and R.S. 39:75(C)(1)(a), the Governor has interim budget balancing powers to adjust the budget, including the authority to reduce appropriations for the executive branch of government for any program that is appropriated from a fund that is in a deficit posture, not exceeding three percent (3%) in the aggregate of the total appropriations for each budget unit for the fiscal year, and if the Governor does not make necessary adjustments in the appropriations to eliminate the projected deficit within thirty (30) days of the determination of the projected deficit in a fund, R.S. 39:75(D) mandates that the Governor call a special session of the Louisiana Legislature for that purpose;WHEREAS, as authorized by R.S. 39:75(C)(1)(a), I am exercising my unilateral interim budget balancing powers to reduce the projected deficit by $140,870,649;WHEREAS, after utilizing that authority, $110,408,828 remains of the projected deficit which must be eliminated, therefore I direct the Commissioner of Administration (hereafter “Commissioner”) to present to the Committee for its approval a plan to eliminate the remaining amount of the projected deficit pursuant to R. S. 39:75(C)(2);WHEREAS, this Executive Order and the plan to be submitted to the Committee may utilize all or a portion of the General Fund dollar savings objective specified in Executive Order BJ 2011-12. NOW THEREFORE, I, Bobby Jindal, Governor of the State of Louisiana, by virtue of the authority vested by the Constitution and laws of the State of Louisiana, do hereby order and direct as follows:SECTION 1: The following departments, agencies, and/or budget units (hereafter "Unit" and/or "Units") of the executive branch of the State of Louisiana, as described in and/or funded by appropriations through Acts 12, 22, and 42 of the 2011 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature (hereafter "the Acts"), shall reduce expenditure of funds appropriated to the Unit from the State General Fund by the Acts, in the amounts shown below:

A. No later than December 29, 2011, the head of each Unit listed in Section 1 of this Order shall submit to the Commissioner a midyear budget reduction plan, on the BA-7 form and questionnaire, which reflects the Unit’s proposed allocation of the expenditure reduction ordered in Section 1 of this Order (hereafter "mid-year budget reduction plan"), and a description of the methodology used to formulate the mid-year budget reduction plan.
B. In the event that positions of employment will be affected by the mid-year budget reduction, these positions should be included in your mid-year budget reduction plan.
C. No Unit shall implement the expenditure reduction mandated by Section 1 of this Order without the Commissioner’s prior written approval of the Unit’s mid-year budget reduction plan.
D. After the Commissioner has given approval of a Unit’s mid-year budget reduction plan, any change to the mid-year budget reduction plan requires prior written approval from the commissioner.

SECTION 3: The Commissioner is authorized to develop additional guidelines as necessary to facilitate the administration of this Order.SECTION 4: All departments, commissions, boards, offices, entities, agencies, andofficers of the State of Louisiana, or any political subdivision thereof, are authorized and directed to cooperate in the implementation of the provisions of this Order.SECTION 5: This Order is effective upon signature and shall remain in effect through June 30, 2012, unless amended, modified, terminated, or rescinded prior to that date.IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have set my hand officially and caused to be affixed the Great Seal of Louisiana, at the Capitol, in the city of Baton Rouge, on this 16th day of December, 2011.